Past week saw above 10,000 refugees returning: MoRR

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Ministry of Refugee and Repatriation (MoRR) on Monday said more than 10,000 Afghan refugee families returned to their home country from neighboring countries during the past one week.

A MoRR statement received by Pajhwok Afghan News said that 10,565 Afghans living in Pakistan and Iran had voluntary or forcibly returned to Afghanistan in the past one week.

It said the refugees, including those having legal stay documents, returned to the country via Pul-i-Abrishum (Silk Bridge), Islam Qala, Spin Boldak and Torkham ports between July 8 and July 14.

Statistics from MoRR border offices show 7,956 refugees returned through Pul-i-Abrishum of Nimroz province, 2,391 refugees through Torkham port of Nangarhar, 199 refugees through Spin Boldak port of Kandahar and only 10 persons returned via Islam Qala port of Herat province.

The MoRR statement said the number of refugees returning through Spin Boldak port and Islam Qala port of Herat had been small due to problems on these borders.

Each refugee with valid documents is granted $200 in cash by UNCHR and a cash of $25 to $30 by the International Organization of Migration (IOM) for voluntarily returning to their home country.